The present invention relates to transfer apparatus for rod-shaped articles, and more particularly, to improvements in apparatus which can convert a file of aligned rod-shaped articles into one or more rows of parallel articles or vice versa. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which can accept cigarettes or analogous rod-shaped articles directly from the discharge end of a maker even if the maker discharges articles at a very high speed, e.g., 4,000 or more articles per minute. Rod-shaped articles which can be manipulated in the apparatus of the present invention, either singly or in groups of two or more, include plain or filter tipped cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos as well as simple or composite filter rod sections of unit length or multiple unit length. For the sake of simplicity, the invention will be described in connection with the manipulation of plain cigarettes.
Plain cigarettes are produced in machines (called makers) wherein a continuous rod-like tobacco filler is draped into a web of cigarette paper to form therewith a continuous cigarette rod which severed by a cutoff to yield a single file of coaxial plain cigarettes which move at an elevated speed, especially in a modern maker which can turn out in excess of 70 cigarettes per second. As a rule, the single file of cigarettes is converted into one or more rows wherein the cigarettes move sideways. This is advantageous and practical, not only when the cigarettes are transported to packing machines but also for the purposes of transport into storage (e.g., in customary chargers or trays) or directly into a filter cigarette making machine. In most instances, plain cigarettes which issue from the maker are delivered to a filter cigarette making machine. This entails a change in the direction of movement from axial or lengthwise to sidewise movement. Furthermore, the speed of cigarettes which form one or more rows and move sideways is only a fraction of the speed of cigarettes which move axially, and the cigarettes which form the row or rows are closely adjacent to each other. The apparatus which converts the file of cigarettes into one or more rows must be designed with a view to insure that the cigarettes are treated gently, not only for the purpose of avoiding damage to and/or deformation of their wrappers but also to avoid escape of appreciable quantities of tabacco at the ends. In other words, the accelerating and/or decelerating forces which act upon the cigarettes should be reduced as much as possible.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,303,926 (Pohl) and 3,567,011 (Pinkham)disclose transfer apparatus which are used for the above-outlined purposes. The principle of operation of the apparatus of Pinkham is similar to that of the apparatus of Pohl; each of these apparatus employs a first or main planetary having a stationary sun gear which meshes with several planet pinions mounted on a carrier and supporting eccentrically mounted holders for cigarettes. The pinions (each having a diameter equal to the radius of the sun gear) roll along the sun gear in response to rotation of the carrier whereby each revolution of the carrier entails three revolutions of each holder (in the same direction) about the axis of the respective pinion. This is due to the fact that, insofar as the holders are concerned, the rotary movement of the planet carrier is added to or superimposed upon the rotary movement of planet pinions, i.e., the angular speed of each holder is three times the angular speed of the planet carrier. Due to the just outlined kinematic relationship, each holder travels along an epicycloidal path. The tangential speed of holders reaches a maximum value when such holders are located at a maximum distance from the axis of the planet carrier, and vice versa.
Additional planetaries are provided to insure that the orientation of holders during travel along the epicycloidal path remains unchanged. The planet pinions of the first planetary constitute planets carriers of the additional planetaries. The planet pinions of the additional planetaries roll along sun gears which are secured to the planet carrier of the first mentioned planetary.
The just described conventional transfer apparatus exhibit many advantages, especially owing to continuous movement as a result of superimposed simple angular movements. However, they cannot be installed in or associated with modern high-speed makers having an output in the range of 70 cigarettes per second. In such makers, and assuming that each holder carries two cigarettes at a time as well that the transfer apparatus comprises six holders, the planet carrier of the main planetary would have to complete 188 revolutions and each holder would have to complete 564 revolutions per minute. The cigarettes would be subjected to accelerating and decelerating forces of such magnitude that each thereof would lose substantial quantities of tabacco at one or both ends. Moreover, conventional apparatus are incapable of reducing the distance between neighboring cigarettes to the extent which is necessary for direct transfer of cigarettes into a processing machine, e.g., a filter cigarette maker. Therefore, such transfer apparatus must deliver cigarettes to a further apparatus which reduces the spacing of neighboring cigarettes to a value which is acceptable for introduction of cigarettes into the processing machine.
Another drawback of conventional transfer apparatus is that they must be assembled of sturdy, bulky and expensive components which must withstand pronounced stresses. The inordinately large number of planetaries also contributes to initial and maintenance cost, and the large number of mating gears produces considerable noise, especially when the apparatus is operated at an elevated speed.